Glass sheets of 30 to 100 micrometer thick are being produced by glass manufacturing companies. They are suitable as substrates for solar cells, displays, and other devices involving high temperature processing. They are fragile and have seen limited success, especially for large area applications. A range of polymers have been applied as a surface coating onto or laminated into the glass to help arrest cracks and flexibilize these sheets. These polymers include many of the conventional organic polymers such as polyvinyl butyral, polyvinyl acetal, polyurethane, polyacrylates, polyester, polyolefins, and others. These polymers, with limited thermal capability, compromise the ability of glass sheets to sustain high temperature exposure.
This invention relates to a new class of coated and laminated glass sheets. The polymers used with these glass sheets are cured silicone resin compositions with high temperature capability. The cured silicone resin compositions can be coated onto the surface of the glass sheets, or laminated between glass sheets with a variety of lamination structure designs, or cured with softened or molten glass to form compositionally graded/multilayer structures. The cured silicone resin compositions offer flexibility and toughness while the glass offers barrier and high temperature advantages. Both combined, the composite structure offers the typical properties of other laminated and coated glasses plus the unique advantage of superior thermal and weather resistance. The cured silicone resin compositions can be for example, hydrosilylation cured silicone resin compositions, condensation cured silicone resin compositions, or free radical cured silicone resin compositions preferably with measures taken to ensure the thickness of the resin layer is below its critical brittle-to-ductile transition thickness.